Abbas' Spokesman about every terrorist in prison: "Someone who acts on our behalf and receives orders from us."

Mahmoud Abbas about terrorists: They "were killed, imprisoned, or wounded because of a national interest and for the sake of a national interest, and not for personal reasons."

By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Top PA leaders have explained that the PA is "obligated" to pay salaries to 6,000 Palestinian terrorists in prison and the families of suicide bombers and other so-called "Martyrs," because they were "soldiers" of the PA, who were "sent" by the PA and who acted out of "national interest and not for personal reasons." Most significantly, they "received orders" from the PA. As explained by Abbas' spokesman: "It is impossible to send a soldier to war and then not take care of his family."

The recent statements by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina were defending the Palestinian Authority's continued policy of paying salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of terrorist "Martyrs."

Abu Rudeina admitted to Israeli journalists that the PA sent all these terrorists as leaders send their "soldiers... to war":

"[Spokesman for Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil] Abu Rudeina spoke about the Palestinian Authority's difficult financial situation due to [Israel's] deduction of tax money because of the [PA's] transfer of salaries to the families of terrorists and prisoners and said that... 'Israel needs to understand this. It is impossible to send a soldier to war and then not take care of his family. We are talking about someone who acts on our behalf and receives orders from us.'"

[Kan (Israeli TV), April 16, 2019]

Similarly, Abbas himself stressed the PA's "obligation" to pay terrorists and their families - in his words "the Martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded" - because they acted out of a "national interest" and "not for personal reasons":

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "[Israel] said: 'We object to the money that you are paying to' - what they call - 'the terrorists, the criminals.' In other words, the Martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded. Why? They [Israel] said: 'They are criminals. Therefore, you must not pay them money.' We have been paying salaries to the families of the Martyrs, to the prisoners, and to the wounded since 1965. This is because they were killed, imprisoned, or wounded because of a national interest and for the sake of a national interest, and not for personal reasons. It is our obligation to take care of their relatives."

[Official PA TV, April 21, 2019; speech at the Arab League conference in Cairo]

These two statements echo Abbas' demand of Israel from 2005 to release all prisoners because, as he said, the PA "ordered them to do" what they did:

Mahmoud Abbas: "I demand [the release of] prisoners because they are human beings, who did what we, we, ordered them to do. We - the [Palestinian] Authority. They should not be punished while we sit at one table negotiating. Besides, they spent many years in prison. How much longer? Do they have to spend all their life in prison and even die there?"

Interviewer: "How can we deal with their criteria "bloodstained hands?"

Abbas: "Such talk is illogical talk and I do not accept it. What does a bloodstained hand mean? We were fighting each other. They kill and kill. They hunt down people with planes and tanks and killed. The soldier who kills 50 or 20 persons here and there - are his hands stained with talc powder? They are stained with blood. This is war. One (i.e., Israel) ordered a soldier to kill, and I ordered my son, brother, or others, to carry out the duty of resistance (i.e., euphemism for terror). This person killed and the other person killed. So why say this person's hands are stained with blood, and [he] must be kept in prison? He is a fighter just like any other fighter. We were in a state of fighting. When a truce is reached, in any country in the world, the past is forgotten... What meaning is there to peace with the Israelis if the wanted continues to be wanted, the prisoner continues to be imprisoned, and the deportee continues to be deported? What am I worth in the eyes of the ordinary [Palestinian] citizen? The ordinary citizen will ask me: 'What did you get me? You ordered me - you are responsible for me.'"